Worcester County NAACP president Ivory Smith tells The Daily Times of Salisbury that the shirts could be interpreted as a mockery of the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements. Those two phrases have been rallying cries following police shootings of African-Americans and shootings of police officers, respectively.

The designer of the shirts, employee George Lamplugh, says he has no intention of spurring controversy with the shirts. He says his shirts promote billfish conservation by featuring images of marlins on safe-release circle hooks, unlike Swagger Fishing, which sells "Kill Whitey'' shirts and stickers promoting non-release white marlin fishing.